Jim,
Queries are good to extract a list. Use Reports for
layout. Layout often helps to make sense or communicate
the significance of data.
Reports can be based upon a query or a table. That is, use
a query to extract records and then use a report based on
the query to layout as meaningful information.
Jonathan, how would you create different reports - laid out any way
you want - with a table? The crux of a report is what information it
conveys. How you *lay it out* can make it pretty or even
emphasize/de-emphasize certain aspects of the data, but that isn't
really what it is about.
Queries are what RDBMs are all about. Reports are just a way to
present the data culled from tables in an intelligible way.
They are much more than a "list".
You might have tables for customers and orders and order details. Only
a query would let you take a look at the customer(s) who order the
most or most frequently - or least frequently. Or what line items are
ordered most or least. Or what is the average order size for the first
quarter of the month?
I stand by my response - it begins with a query.
- Jim
